-->*OFFICIAL: Dell XPS M1730 Owner's Lounge*<--

Was going to suggest that it might be HDD being accessed in order to load up the next set of the map/level which was causing the freeze, but you've got 7200rpm (lucky bugger ).

 

Yeh I think it is. I'll do a bit of research into it and find out. Ive installed the patch etc, not sure if another is out though so I'll check.....

lol, yup 7200rpm drives in RAID 0. So cant be that!

 

Yup you were right. Checked some other forums etc, and it seems a lot of people, if not all, are having the stuttering.
Oh well, at least I know its not my system!

 

Hi Ifti

Why were you surprised? A few pages ago I posted 3DMark06 values for X7900 and X9000 and the X7900 version reached above 12,000 easily. 10K would have been disappointing.

Have you purchased Crysis and are you able to conduct Crysis benchmarks before and after the patch?

This would be interesting to test this agains the X9000 values.

Cheers
Laurent

 

On a 17" Screen, the difference in video quality noticed to our eyes between 1920x1200 and 1440x900 would be negligible, at least for gaming and movies. If you were to have the video output onto a larger external monitor then you would notice more of a difference. The bigger you go, the more apparent the difference in resolution. The video gurus say that you would have to go at least 42" and up to really notice resolution differences among the 'hd' type of resolutions. Even then, you'd have to be closer up to that screen. Of course, with desktop space (icons / programs) you'll notice the difference with the different resolutions regardless of the screen size because you would have smaller icons but also more 'real estate'.

Thanks for all of your info ifiti! Man can't wait to get my system in! Still in the 'boxing' phase and ETA March 5th doh!

 

NFS Prostreet - forgot to check the FPS!! Will get it later.
But it runs with everything set to high perfectly smooth - couldnt get my 360 controller working with it yet though......Nevertheless the game itself is 100% perfectly smooth - I estimate at least 50-60FPS, but will check for sure later on.....

 

Just got word from Dell there seems to be a lead time on the processors of about a week, so looks like my 1730 will be a while yet. Why can't they anticipate a demand when a new system is released. P*ss poor planning Dell. Apparently they have enough of the 8800s, but the extreme X7900 are what is delaying the procedure....dammit. After hearing ifti's news I WANT MY COMPUTER NOW
Am off on a trip on monday until the 10th march so looks like I am going to miss it#s arrival. Still I suppose I will have something to look forward to on my return.

 

And the excitement for you, my friend, begins...................

lol

Awesome machine, AWESOME. I was happy with the 8700mGT, but knew I wanted more. Now I have it, Im very happy. No problems to report, excellent performance even with the Dell stock drivers, what more could you want??!!

 

Does anyone know dells release date for the X9000 ive heard it was the 21st but it was never confirmed

also should i wait for the X9000 to come out and take a chance with whatever offers they will have or should i order it now with the X7900 to get the $599 discount

 

@ifti
This excitement is damn hard to handle, I want this awsome machine to play NOW ! lol

Happy to hear your machine is performing to expectations, just what you wanted.

Hurry up Dell !! I'm going to bug you every day that's a promise.

 

@DD
I reckon if you keep waiting for bigger better faster to come out you will never get one. Look how happy ifti is with his new machine. My advice take the plunge and get the discount with the X7900s.

 

lol, Thats what I did. Bug them every day till their sick of you and think, "lets just put this order on priority to get rid of this ass"!! lol

Agreed

If you wait for the X9000, somet else, like the new Nvidia 9000 series GPU may be announced as coming soon - you gonna wait for that also??

Take the plunge, you wont be dissappointed!

 

Well i was gunna go with it as soon as it came out but I guess yall are right. I heard someting about a newer type of processore comming out at the end of this year maybe i can upgrade it then (with new GPU's).
i just wish i would know what deals and new stuff was commin out a month in advance.

 

I would advise everyone to go for a spec a little lower then mine.
I want to be the best....

lol, Im jus kiddin.

I think if anyone was to get the same spec as me, or higher, you're looking at a system thats gonna last you a long, long while.

 

Thats the idea lol

Amount of money i wasted on my PC has to be about 5k(GBP) over the passed 2 years, Which I lost a load of money on thanks to tec becoming out of date so dam fast!.The M1730 should last me atleast 3 years I'm hopeing.

 

The idea is always to be the best

Well im not gettin the blueray drivers but everything else looks like yours.The idea is for it to last me about 3 1/2 years till after i graduate college. Then ill upgrade again with whatever else they came out with and build me a gaming desktop also.(if the laptops dont run better)

But im so excited i may be ordering mine tonight before the discount expires (total ill have over 1200 off 600 discount and another 600 from my colleges 12% discount USD)

 

welldone ifti ya git. Ive been denied my free 8800m gtx upgrade cos of an orignal error by a tech on my m1710 im not entitled to the 8800m lol. Im well gutted. Ive had a call today from Sales and the card is gunna cost me £549 all in including dell tech to install it. Should i go for it or what!

The part number is : "XM888" and has a NBD thrown in. Is it really worth the money from them who has the 8800m over the 8700m.At the current status the 8700 is fin in most games.
I can get 40fps constant on 1920x1200 but drops to 25+fps in busy areas and when im looking at more busy scenes. Any comments would be welcome.

 

how come I only have 3.18 GB of ram (I have 4GB installed) ...... is that because 512x2 of video memory is taking

i have 169.04 drivers installed are there more stable drivers than this one?

 

one more question. Sry for all the post but as everyone should know im excited to be ordering my laptop.

Should i get the backpack with it?
Ifti said he never used his but i carry mine around everywhere. I have a backpact for a 17 inch laptop i had before. it wasnt as thick but it was pretty long and barely fit. Im worried the m1730 wont fit in it.


I could always go back and order it i need to once i get my laptop in but then it will have 1-2 weeks before delivery. $150 is a bit much but it seem to be a really nice backpack.
Any opinions?

 

I am buying laptops since they started coming out because I always needed a portable computer to play games. In the beginning they were really expensive and far behind desktops specs wise. Now the prices and specs are better but one thing never seems to differ: technology changes so fast that to be able to play recent games I needed to get a new machine every two years at the most. And it was always a struggle to keep it alive for these two years.

Ifti has just shown us that Dell's promise to make some parts of the machine upgradeable is true. So this approach might prolong life of a machine a bit but we already hear that the CPU is not upgradeable. So yes, lets hope for the best, but 3 years is a very long time in the computer industry.

 

Yes its because of your GPU's and other odd things that take up ram. Im not even gunna try to explain it because im just starting to understand but go back a few pages and they have several good post explaining this

 

mtv we did say choose the 8800m gtx. And its cos you need 64bit version of the OS to benefit all of the 4gigs. The gfx card has nothing to do with the System RAM.It has its own ram called GDDR ram.

 

YES!

I travel to Amsterdam each week and my laptop goes back and forth with me... the backpack is awesome, the machine is well protected and it's comfortable to use (even though the thing is heavy)

There is plenty of room for other stuff too!

Do it!

 

k, but what is the best driver for the 8700 cards?

 

So theyre letting you purchase the upgrade??
This is big news isnt it since they aren't publicly selling the upgrade yet.

 

ok thinks ill add that on when i order then.

I really have no clue i havent got around to messing with drivers (all my laptops have been crapy it was hard eneough to keep them running this long and the new one i had bought had to many other problems to deal with)

I saw something about the 8800 drivers worked best with them but youll have to ask someone else. ifti will prob know

 

Thats actually quite a result. Seems like they are starting to sell the card alone then? Does this mean the 'upgrade program' is actually starting now??

It really all depends on how much you want it. If you feel pretty comtempt with the 8700 for now, if its doing all that you want it to do, then stick with it for a while. Give it another couple of months, and when the price of the 8800 upgrade drops a little, go for it then. If you're like me, and you cant wait, then go for it now. either way, at least you have the choice to make now, since they are willing to send you the card!

Also, I would personally install the card yourself, rather then have some techy mess up your system. If you lived anywhere near me I would have offered to do the upgrade for you!

The thig I like about this system, is that even though its a laptop, its upgradable. Ive never had an 'upgradable' laptop in the past.

Also, just so you know, the CPU IS upgradable also. I could, if I wanted, remove my processor and stick in a Penyn processor instead. So you're not limited with the upgrading options just yet.....

 

In a word, yes. Personally I think Dell should have thrown the backpack in for free. Its good to have, an dthe system fits in nice and snug. Not just that, but there's so much room you could fit half your bedroom in there!! lol

It very comfortable etc to wear as well, even with the weight inside. I would really recommend it.

One thing I dont like, is that it has XPS written clearly on it - basically advertising the fact that you have a powerful piece of kit inside to all others.

The only reason why Im selling mine, is because I never take my laptop anywhere. Its always on my desk at home. Even if i do need to take it anywhere, i have plenty of cases at work (roller cases) - I posted a pic up a few pages back, so I could easily borrow a case from work. I know Im never going to have a need for the backpack, so I may as well sell it and use the money to get my cooler.

ROFL! I would know?? lol

I read that the 8800 drivers (167.55) can be used with the 8700 card as well, and they give some pretty impressive performance. Not sure of the validity of this, but you may wanna give it a shot.

 

Does anyone know or have any experience with trying to get the President's Day ($599) discount on a system that doesn't have the discount advertised. For example, the top of the line 1730 shows the $599 but the others don't. I was wanting to get the one listed in my sig, but would like to get the discount as well.

Oh, and I also get a 12% discount from my employer's discount program (yay!). Would that conflict with other offers?

 

I have read somewhere that Dell does not offer any CPU upgrades, just the GPU. But you are, ifti. Some upgrades do not have to go through Dell. This will prolong M1730's life quite a bit. What about the drivers though?

 

Im not sure what you mean by the first part. I havent tried getting the discount with other systems if thats what you mean.
but as for your 12% discount from what i can tell no it dosnt conflict. I have the same thing and I am mostlikely ordering it tonight so if I have any problems with that I will let you know.

 

not even around the F-keys? i have read a review stating that there is indeed keyboard flex.

the dell e1505 i got for my wife does not have keyboard flex. it is the best laptop keyboard i typed on, exlcuding some of the ibm thinkpad laptops. so i am really curious if the keyboard on the m1730 is of the same cailber.

 

I have 3 dell laptops, and even my wife notices the keyboard difference on the M1730. I don't know how to explain it, but we both like it.

May be I'm just not that anal about things, but I haven't noticed it.

 

I tried SO hard to spend my money with Dell.

I give up.

Rubbish level of sales support, never ever dealt with such a crappy company

I will take my £ elsewhere I guess...

Cheers

 

Yeh I dont think Dell would sell you the part directly but you could buy the Penryn processor, for example, from other places in the near future. Im sure even the GPU 8800 card will be available from other places quite soon.

The Penryn processor is supported via the latest BIOs update (A06). I applied this update 2 days ago and havent experienced any problems with the system whatsoever, so it seems pretty stable etc. The A06 update was mainly to do with the processor and temperature control etc, so with A06 you should be able to put a Penryn in no problem.

As long as its a part that Dell's site shows is supported by the M1730, you should be able to pick the drivers from Dell direct. Just because you dont buy the part from them direct, doesnt mean you can use the drivers

I have no flex on my keyboard either. Not sure what you mean. All seems pretty solid to me.....

 

I really dont understand why this is happening!
Do you have anyone else that could order for you, just so its under someone else's name/address completely, and then transfer the cover care details later?
I think you only really have 3 options...

1. Wait and stick it out.
2. Cancel altogether and re-order when you return from your trip.
3. Purchase elsewhere.

Either way, dont be hasty. If it was me I would cancel everything, then go on your trip. When you return, decide on whether you want to spend elsewhere (never know what may be available in a few weeks!) or whether you want to give Dell another chance........

 

I cancelled as they finally confirmed tonight via email that inspite of the delays being caused by themselves they basically could not deliver me a machine in anything like a reasonable timeframe.

To say that I have had my confidence in Dell dented is an understatement. If they suck so badly at taking my money, I shudder to think how they might treat me once they have taken my money....

I will be in California the first week of March on business so will check out my other 1/2's sons m15x and see what I think of that.

Thanks for the comments and support folks

Cheers

 

Hi Guys,

I am new here....I've just got my XPS and it is extremely fast I got 14016 in 3D Mark 06 with default settings , dell drivers and only CPU OC to 3.4GHZ

Please look at www.futuremark.com and go to ORB and select only 8800M GTX then the best score is mine.....

Anyone knows how to use Rivatune with the 8800's....

FROG......

 

oooooo nice!
I havent overclocked anything in my system since I dont really need to at the mo, but that does sound sweet!

 

nice very very nice i just hope mine runs close to that
what processor and ram do you have and what OS are you runnin
im assuming the x7900

 

Looking at a x9000 @ 3.4 Ghz it only scores <100 more in 3Dmark 06 over a x7900 @ 3.4Ghz (I was expecting more)

Thats good news for me as I'm now sure I made the right choice in not waiting for the x9000 ^^

 

Yea veggie I agree. I would have liked to have the cooler processor that uses less power but with everything else this laptop is running it wouldnt have maked that big of a difference.
I think im going to order mine tonight while i can still get the discount.

 

Yes...I am running Win Vista Premium 32bit and a X7900.....2Gb Ram

 

i see why so many are jumping to the 8800GTX? better driver support?

 

Well, I'm trying to find a good program here to document laptop temperatures.

I've tried:

Ntune that gave roughly 60C idle temps
SpeedFan gave 45C
I8k, or whatever it's called from a previous poster on here, shows 55C
I purchased Everest Ultimate, 35 bucks later I get temps of 76C

What the hell is going on here? lol

You would think measuring a temperature wouldn't be this difficult seeing as how they're all using the same sensor. I think each designer has their own take on what offset value to use.

Ifti said his was idling between 53-67ish. Was that with Rivatune Ifti?

I prefer the logitech interface with the Everest Ultimate. I'll likely use this to benchmark temperatures tomorrow. Although the actual values may or may not be accurate, at least I'll have a reference point to measure a delta from.

 

Just got off the phone with dell spare parts and ordered the replacment 8800gtx
They charged me:
$234.30 AUD 8800GTX sli
$186.00 AUD Install

WTF?!?!?!?!?!

I thought it was suppose to be a $1000+ Upgrade
Maybe the guy didnt know what he's on about but ive been quoted and paid now so its too late. Fingers crossed.

 

After some more use, while idle and doing basic tasks like web browsing etc, Im getting temps of 59-72c. Thats using nTune.

After Ive played a game for a while, I quit the game and run nTune straight away to see what my temps are like, and Ive never seen it above 73c TBH, and thats straight after I quit the game, not giving it any chance to cool etc. It then cools the GPU's down to 59c, when the fans then shut off.

Shhhhh, dont say anything to them. Keep quiet - you got an awesome deal there!

However watch the techy like a hawk when he upgrades to ensure he's not too 'rough' with the system. Remember, its your laptop, not his, so if you dont like the way he's doing somet speak up. Watch my video of the upgrade so you know what to expect etc and be ready for him!

When the hardware upgrade is done, install drivers and check the card - preferably while he is still there. Dell have been known to fit replcement 8700 cards instead of the 8800 - cheeky gits!

 

Ifti,

My temps are all consistant. I have them all running simultaneously and they're all reading different values.

The Everest Ultimate is actually quite nice. It's a benchmarking program, but the nice extra is that it allows you to program your lcd screen to display whatever you want with your system. Using it you can see your temps while in game.

 

Yes!!! I just checked (yet again) and my status of In Production (boxing phase) with an ETA of March 5has just been updated to 'Shipped' and ETA of...Tomorrow!

I saw that President's sale and could have saved some cash if I had that deal when ordering last week. Ah well! I also noticed while putting together a configuration in that deal that you can get the backpack for $99!